Willingness-to-pay for the conservation of Mararison Island and its surrounding waters in Culasi, Antique

Abstract

The island of Mararison in the municipality of Culasi, Antique Province is rich in natural resources and its beautiful scenic view has been attracting tourists. Overtime, the number of tourists has increased, making the island and its surrounding waters vulnerable to degradation. Protection and conservation of the island and its surrounding waters will promote its sustainability. This study was conducted to determine the willingness-to-pay (WTP) of the local residents of the municipality of Culasi for the conservation of Mararison Island and its surrounding waters. The study also described the socio-demographic and economic characteristics, level of awareness, knowledge and attitude towards the conservation and the reasons for the willingness to pay of the residents for the conservation of the island and its surrounding waters. The Contingent Valuation Method was used to determine the study participants’ WTPs. Binary logit regression was conducted to identify the factors affecting the study participants’ WTP. A pilot-tested interview schedule was used to collect data from 300 randomly selected study participants in 10 barangays in the municipality of Culasi in January to April 2016. The results showed that 86 percent of the study participants were willing to pay (with adjustment to certainty) for the conservation program. Without adjustment to the level of certainty, the annual household income, the randomly assigned bid prices, and knowledge index were the variables that affect the willingness-to-pay of the study participants. With adjustment to the level of certainty, the age, educational attainment (elementary and high school), knowledge index and randomly assigned bid prices were the variables that affect the willingness-to-pay of the study participants. The annual mean WTP of the study participants with and without adjustment to the level of certainty were Pl66 and Pl40, respectively. This study can be used by the municipality of Culasi as basis in planning for the conservation program of the Mararison Island and its surrounding waters.